To me, misjumps are a very fascinating aspect of BT - and for that matter Traveller.Unfortunately, it can't be 40K-levels of unreliable since a single JumpShip can carry whole regiments of BattleMechs and having one of those vanishing mid-campaign can change the course of a war in stupid ways. Even a common Invader-class JumpShip loaded with Leopards would lose you a whole company of BattleMechs.
There are still misjumps, but I think after the travesty that was Far Country, they decided they didn't want to risk it too much. Even the Manassas was iffy. I'd much rather see misjumped ships just reappear completely wrecked somewhere else because the K-F field became unstable mid-jump.
I think a flying cruise-ship-like Zeppelin would be in higher demand. Less shakey (additional seats in a mech are called rumble seats for a reason), they'd offer more luxury, a better view, better accomodations and carry more people (which in turn increases revenue).Yeah, that's sort of what I'd envision as the base for a Club Mech. Slap a sealed observation dome on top, have a swimming pool, a bar, and some staterooms instead of cargo pods. Put a few Jump Jets on it so you can move the Mech into nice, scenic spots, and have it go on stompy tours around trendy garden worlds (or even stompy tours around slum planets, if you manage to book enough trustafarian hipsters).
In BT, the belle of the ball is the mech, but I'll be damned if I wouldn't love to play an Elite: Dangerous like game set in BT.Not gonna lie, I would kill to see a 4X game set in the battletech universe. That would be neat.
Can try your hand as one of the great houses or start your own Periphery Nation and see if you can forge something out of it.
Sure, zeppelins could work too. I'm sure people would take zeppelin tours if they could!But then again, there's gimmicky tourism stuff all over the world, so it's not like any of what you said is unfeasible, it's just highly specific to a very narrow range of customers.
Typical jump drive charging actually doesn't use the reactor at all. It can be done, and a hell of a lot faster at that, but "hot charging" the drive that way is known to risk damaging the drive.Something I wondered about: How much energy does a jump require and how much energy does a DropShip's reactor provide?
Like I imagine a JumpShip with a busted reactor, that is forced to tap into the reactors of the attached DropShips (maybe even the reactors of the vehicles and mechs aboard the Dropships) to slowly charge the K-F-Drive.
A Jumpship with giant solar sails and a massive reactor takes several days to charge, so daisychaining together everything vaguely fusion reactor shaped would most likely take forever to charge the drive, but the idea is still kinda interesting to me.
That would be interesting, but it would have to be a game very heavily based on both politics and logistics. It can't be one of those games where you can just amass a deathball of warships and roll over the enemy. You have to push a proper front or you'll be isolated and picked apart. And you'll need a whole "politics and sneaky shit" layer on top of everything. So many things in BattleTech happened because someone keeping or discovering the right secrets, after all.Not gonna lie, I would kill to see a 4X game set in the battletech universe. That would be neat.
Can try your hand as one of the great houses or start your own Periphery Nation and see if you can forge something out of it.
As @A_Callow_Youth inferred, it's not so much an issue of energy (although it does take a lot of power to do charge a jump drive), but time. If you try to charge a jump drive too quickly, it'll be damaged. The sail is there as a fuel-efficiency measure instead. Most of the mass of a JumpShip's engine is actually dedicated to the stationkeeping drives and they carry very little fuel. Most don't even carry enough to be able to charge their own drive without the solar sail (warships often carry more, for obvious reasons). For example, an Invader massing 152,000 tons only carries 50 tons of hydrogen and burns off about 2 tons per day just holding position while it recharges. That's why shooting off (or diving through) the solar sail of a JumpShip is a favored tactic of both military and pirate aerospace pilots to keep their target from getting away.Something I wondered about: How much energy does a jump require and how much energy does a DropShip's reactor provide?
Like I imagine a JumpShip with a busted reactor, that is forced to tap into the reactors of the attached DropShips (maybe even the reactors of the vehicles and mechs aboard the Dropships) to slowly charge the K-F-Drive.
A Jumpship with giant solar sails and a massive reactor takes several days to charge, so daisychaining together everything vaguely fusion reactor shaped would most likely take forever to charge the drive, but the idea is still kinda interesting to me.
FedSuns getting shafted? wtf I love the ilKhan Era now.The FedSuns are getting DP'd by Liao and Kurita, and in no position to do anything.
I kinda liked the idea of a stranded crew slapping together every source of energy they go in order to charge the FTL drive, but I never really contemplated the fuel consumption. A fusion reactor might be efficient as hell, but the amount of energy required seems to be even more vast then I imagined.As @A_Callow_Youth inferred, it's not so much an issue of energy (although it does take a lot of power to do charge a jump drive), but time. If you try to charge a jump drive too quickly, it'll be damaged. The sail is there as a fuel-efficiency measure instead. Most of the mass of a JumpShip's engine is actually dedicated to the stationkeeping drives and they carry very little fuel. Most don't even carry enough to be able to charge their own drive without the solar sail (warships often carry more, for obvious reasons). For example, an Invader massing 152,000 tons only carries 50 tons of hydrogen and burns off about 2 tons per day just holding position while it recharges. That's why shooting off (or diving through) the solar sail of a JumpShip is a favored tactic of both military and pirate aerospace pilots to keep their target from getting away.
Anyway... in your example, every single fusion reactor in the vicinity would run out of hydrogen long before they could charge the drive. Long story short: carry spare sails and thank the heavens for recharge stations.
Fuel-wise? Technically unlimited. BattleMechs carry electrolysis plants that can be used to break up light water into fuel for the reactor. Even if you're stuck in a desert planet, the MechWarrior would be dead long before the 'Mech ran out of fuel, because...What is the operational range of a mech anyway? How often does he need to refuel? It never really gets mentioned in the novels and in the game, it's most likely never really relevant to keep track.
I'd be surprised if there wasn't a Solaris mod for it.Not gonna lie, I would kill to see a 4X game set in the battletech universe. That would be neat.
Can try your hand as one of the great houses or start your own Periphery Nation and see if you can forge something out of it.
How does the phrase "New Avalon has fallen" sit in your mouth?FedSuns getting shafted? wtf I love the ilKhan Era now.
(Seriously, I'm fine with Davion fans and I like autocannons as much as the next guy, but the FedSuns have gotten by on their hero status way too often.)